Array of Tales (Michaeng)

Disorder 2

Chaeyoung eyes open and Mina is drowning in them. "Woman what are you doing?"

Caught off-guard Mina lurches backward, landing hard on her backside. It is difficult to be graceful in a party dress.

"Chaeyoung I..I… I wasn’t sure you were breathing I was just checking" she improvises mentally patting herself on the back for the clutch lie.

Chaeyoung sits up her hair falling perfectly around her face mesmerizingly beautiful.

It isn't fair, Mina thinks. Her eyes meet the blonde's again and she can see annoyance in them.

"Why would I not be breathing?" Chaeyoung mutters, pulling the hem of her shirt down to cover her pale tattooed belly.

"Will you please leave my house now? You can catch a bus from the corner." She rises easily to her feet and automatically folds her blanket neatly. She is barefooted and it is odd but Mina is mesmerized by her toes.

"How did I get here?" Mina asks, bracing herself on the coffee table to get to her feet. It tips over, sending her stumbling again.

With a sigh Chaeyoung drops the blanket and rushes to catch the dark haired japanese under the arms.

"You would lose your head if it wasn’t attached to you, clumsy woman" she tells Mina releasing her once she is standing.

Then she grabs some hand sanitizer and wipes her hands.

Mina would be offended if she didn’t notice that there was a bottle of disinfectant within reach from every corner of this room.

"And don’t play dumb Mina. You snuck into my car at the party." Chaeyoung points to a coat rack where Mina trench coat is hanging.

"What?" Mina blinks confused.

"If you really like me that much I have to tell you now I don't like you." Chaeyoung's harsh words were raising Mina's bafflement.

"I have to admit it isn't every day that a woman sneaks into my car completely inebriated and passes out in the back seat. Did you wait until I had to leave the door unlocked to pay the parking ticket? I was tempted to leave you in there overnight but the temperatures dropped below freezing last night and your death would not be worth going to jail. Please leave now so I can disinfect the house of your disease-ridden presence." Chaeyoung adds indifferent

To her horror, tears of fury and humiliation rise to Mina's eyes. "Excuse me, I have no idea what you're talking about. I don't like you at all you assuming conceited ass!" With the shreds of her dignity she hobbles to the doorway grabbing her coat.

If she were cool like Jihyo she would have an excellent parting line to hurl at Chaeyoung, to leave her with feelings of guilt or remorse. If she were strong like Jeongyeon she could punch or slap Chaeyoung and relieve her frustration.

She stomps out the gate slamming the door behind her without a backward glance. She does not see Chaeyoung watching her from the front window. 

On the bus ride home, Mina realizes she left her hair tie and pins in Chaeyoung's bathroom. With a groan, she buries her face in her hands. There is no way she will ever get them back not if she has to deal with the emotionless human.

In fact Chaeyoung will probably throw them away since they're pieces of thrash. With a growl of frustration Mina mentally kicks herself. Chaeyoung looked so innocent in her sleep. Too bad she is heartless.

When she arrives at her dorm room Jihyo is waiting. "Thank God Mina where have you been?" a bobbed dark haired girl asks flying into her arms to hug Mina

"We were so worried! Jeongyeon that idiot  said she put you in the car but when Nayeon caught up with us you weren't there. We were just about to call the police!"

"What?" Mina notes the dark circles around her friend's eyes. Guilt immediately swamps her for giving her trouble. "I'm so sorry!" As all the tension overwhelms her she bursts into tears. Jihyo is terrified by her reaction.

"Mina Do we need to go to the police?" Jihyo asks gently, her eyes dark with worry.

"No, no" Mina assures Jihyo with a shaky smile. It occurs to her that the night could have gone so much worse than it has.

Jerk or not Chaeyoung did not have the responsibly to keep her safe yet the blonde  let her sleep in that unstain home. She tells Jihyo that she slept somewhere safe, that she is crying because she is glad to be home.  Jihyo is dubious but Mina insists that all is well.

"Do you remember anything from last night?" Jihyo asks as they sit down to dinner. Mina shakes her head.

Jihyo prods Mina's head gently where the bump is, Mona winces "Well at least it wasn't a concussion, we were at the party remember? And you shotgunned a drink."

Mina remembers this much. The party had been too loud and there were too many people so the room had been sweltering. Since this the first time she's in this type of parties she was overwhelmed, a tray of drinks had been sitting on the table. She had grabbed a shot glass of something that looked like tea. She chugged the whole thing in one go because she had been so warm.

"Mina it was soju I can’t believe you just tossed it all in your mouth. You never even drink and you had low tolerance of liquor. That's 25% alcohol!" Jihyo looks awed

"Good thing we were with you then. You dropped your purse so you bent down to pick it up but when you stood up you bashed your head pretty hard on the table and knocked yourself out. Good thing Jeongyeon caught you! Nayeon had to check to make sure you didn't give yourself a concussion. But that idiot Ostrich swore she put you in the car. She carried you out herself. I should have checked to make sure she did, I was busy making our excuses to the hosts."

Normally Mina would blush at the thought of her crush carrying her in her arms. She wonders why today she is just irritated.

"I think she put me in a different car" she scoffs stabbing the meat forcefully with a fork as she remembers Chaeyoung's accusation. Biting into it with a loud crunch, she notices Jihyo staring at her questionably. "It's okay it was an honest mistake. I'm safe and sound. Nothing happened."

"Where did you end up sleeping then?" Jihyo asks.

Mina considers telling her the truth. Her mind wanders to the white house on a hill, and the golden-haired living within. Her heart aches. Chaeyoung must be so lonely.

Her friends found Chaeyoung weird and her bobbed headed friend would probably freak out of she finds out that she slept in a house of one.

"Ah just the house of a classmate. It was lucky that Jeongyeon put me in my classmate's car by mistake. I couldn't call because my phone died" she says weakly. Jihyo stares at her for a long moment and Mina tries not to squirm.

She is a terrible liar but technically, she isn't lying. She is thankful that her next class with Chaeyoung is on early Wednesday morning three whole days away. She should regain her composure by then.

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Sorry for any errors